The OFFICIAL Montevina / Centrino 2 Thread

[Foto]

refresh simply means new versions of the M1530/M1330 with new things such as LED backlit displays for all resolutions, Montevina support, better options available, etc.

I highly doubt that it will happen anytime soon at least not till October.

I think it will be much earlier than that, if Montevina is officially released early June, then I would hope we see a refresh in July. Firstly, Dell seem to be selling off the current XPS line of laptops with big discounts, perhaps inidicating they want to clear old stock. Secondly I would think that students are a prime demographic that the XPS line is aimed at, and most students purchase laptops around June/July/August ahead of university in September. I would think they want to cash in on this. Thirdly, the XPS line is meant to be the cutting edge of Dell machines....why would they wait 4 months before implementing the Montevina CPU? If they leave it that long Calpella will only be a few months off. I think they'll be keen to refresh ASAP so they don't fall behind...I mean, even now the M1330 is beginning to lag behind compared to LG's P300.


All purely speculation..at the end of the day, who knows

[monakh]

Let me disagree here again publicly with my distinguished forum colleague above. I agree with Foto, and my ten year experience with Dell product lines suggests that there will be a refresh with at least the new chipset and the T9400 CPU (a match made in heaven) immediately after or at the Intel announcement.

Dell will never lose an X amount of sales to HP or others, for that matter, just so that refresh can take place 4 months later which is almost a generation in computer hardware terms. Even Sony TZs, the notoriously slow to refresh laptop series, gets incremental updates with faster CPUs every 2-3 months.

I will bet my meager 401K savings that the refresh is near. It may be an evolutionary step (i.e. no LED-based WUXGA+ display yet) but it will happen by next month. The refresh rollouts typically hit the US first but there have been exceptions. For example, ANZ saw the Penryn refresh sooner than we did. So did Europe. So we don't know how Dell is planning this. It may end up being a matter of global logistics (i.e. Asia/Pac being close to the global supply lines and getting the goods sooner). Who knows. What I do firmly believe is the word imminent desribes the situation most appropriately.

[Forte]

Building on speculation, it is obvious Dell wants the Montevina Inspiron line to be available for students once that Back to School period comes around. Inspiron refresh will be in June/July period, but the XPS will wait a bit to around October just because they know they will pull some people who got an Inspiron to want to sell theirs or spend money for the new XPS. Helps them out in the long run. Regardless one things for sure. We won't be seeing huge discounts like 25% off anytime soon once the refreshes do happen.

[Foto]

Building on speculation, it is obvious Dell wants the Montevina Inspiron line to be available for students once that Back to School period comes around. Inspiron refresh will be in June/July period, but the XPS will wait a bit to around October just because they know they will pull some people who got an Inspiron to want to sell theirs or spend money for the new XPS. Helps them out in the long run. Regardless one things for sure. We won't be seeing huge discounts like 25% off anytime soon once the refreshes do happen.

I have to disagree. Why would they give the Inspiron line this update before the XPS? The Inspiron line is aimed more at the average consumer, whereas the XPS line is aimed at high end users. Which user is going to be more concerned about what generation of CPU their laptop has inside? How many average-joes know/care what Montevina is?

If anything, I suspect it'll be the other way around, the XPS will take priority and the Inspiron series will follow. Dell will sell Inspiron laptops to students regardless of the CPU inside. However, I dont think the same can be said about the XPS line.

I do, however, agree with you that we won't be seeing the heavy discounts available now. But that is - quite literally - the price you pay for buying new technology

[monakh]

Guess we will all find out soon enough. FWIW, the refesh should take place across all product lines sooner or later. The only delays are normally with the Latitudes but that has more to do with legacy supportability. This won't apply here either because we have all seen the oft publicized E-series to be released next month.

[Foto]

Guess we will all find out soon enough. FWIW, the refesh should take place across all product lines sooner or later. The only delays are normally with the Latitudes but that has more to do with legacy supportability. This won't apply here either because we have all seen the oft publicized E-series to be released next month.

Your right, I guess things may become clearer next week after the official Montevina launch at Computex Taipei. Whats the usual Dell way of dealing with new products...do they announce and then launch a month or so later, or announce things that are "available from today" Apple-style?

Also I hope us in the UK aren't made to wait too much longer than USA!

[Chrysaor]

Your right, I guess things may become clearer next week after the official Montevina launch at Computex Taipei. Whats the usual Dell way of dealing with new products...do they announce and then launch a month or so later, or announce things that are "available from today" Apple-style?

Also I hope us in the UK aren't made to wait too much longer than USA!

Dell does both.
Apple doesn't always do "available from today" also.
Of course, Dell product launches aren't overhyped like Apple.

[aceZsta]

Question:

I mean, is Montevina really that freakin revolutionary? I'm torn between waiting and paying a higher price for average specs or buying now with the T9300 and 320GB and all that jazz.

All I know is that right now, ANYTHING would probably be better than my ancient Inspiron 5150. And from what i've heard, Penryn processors are pretty solid. All I want is a laptop that can run Crysis smoothly at medium settings and something that will keep up with the gaming industry for the next couple of years, as i'll be taking this laptop to college. I don't care about power consumption, I just want it to run my games and be able to handle 4-5 apps open at the same time!

Wait or buy?

[Rhodan]

Question:

I mean, is Montevina really that freakin revolutionary? I'm torn between waiting and paying a higher price for average specs or buying now with the T9300 and 320GB and all that jazz.

All I know is that right now, ANYTHING would probably be better than my ancient Inspiron 5150. And from what i've heard, Penryn processors are pretty solid. All I want is a laptop that can run Crysis smoothly at medium settings and something that will keep up with the gaming industry for the next couple of years, as i'll be taking this laptop to college. I don't care about power consumption, I just want it to run my games and be able to handle 4-5 apps open at the same time!

Wait or buy?

Buy now. The current M1530 meets your requirements and should last you 2-3 years.

[Foto]

Dell does both.
Apple doesn't always do "available from today" also.
Of course, Dell product launches aren't overhyped like Apple.

Yeah, your right about Apple eg. the iPhone was announced 6 / 11 months be its US / UK launches. But most the iPod refreshes tend to be imediately available I think. I have never bought anything from Dell so I'm not so familiar with their marketing.

So back to Montevina,...so what actual processors models are we likely to see? and what clock speeds etc? TBH I know little about the technical specifications of the platform

Question:

I mean, is Montevina really that freakin revolutionary? I'm torn between waiting and paying a higher price for average specs or buying now with the T9300 and 320GB and all that jazz.

All I know is that right now, ANYTHING would probably be better than my ancient Inspiron 5150. And from what i've heard, Penryn processors are pretty solid. All I want is a laptop that can run Crysis smoothly at medium settings and something that will keep up with the gaming industry for the next couple of years, as i'll be taking this laptop to college. I don't care about power consumption, I just want it to run my games and be able to handle 4-5 apps open at the same time!

Wait or buy?

As I said above....I'm not really well informed enough to give you a solid answer based on the technical merits.
But for me personally I cant buy a laptop until the end of June [lack of funds ] so I'm just thinking I might as well wait and see what happens. I dont *need* a new laptop until the middle of September, but to be honest I would prefer to get one sooner. So I guess I will just wait and see how things unfold....